The importance of Pelvic Health for Mothers (LAB #04) PART 1

Taryn Gaudin. Taryn is a Women’s Health and Fitness Physiotherapist in Townsville Australia, founder of Swim Ride Mum and mother to 2 girls.

Her passion is to help Women build strength from the inside out both physically and emotionally. Taryn helps women to exercise safely during pregnancy and to return to exercise and fitness after having children. Her aim is to offer Women an opportunity to enjoy fitness that is safe, enjoyable and challenging.

We’ve had the pleasure of spending quite a bit of time with Taryn talking about pelvic health. This is a topic that we are super passionate about and something we get asked a lot about. Because this is such an important topic for mamas, we’ve got Part 1 for you today and Part 2 next month.

During this soulful conversation we talk about:

The worst thing do when getting back to exercise post baby

The major things we need to be aware of when returning to exercise post birth

What actually is the pelvic floor + core? And why is it so important

The things we should we be on the lookout for when it comes to pelvic health? Especially, how do we know if something is wrong.

Her top pelvic floor exercises

And if we do need help, what sort of practitioner should I be seeking out

Did you get loads of tips from Taryn’s episode? Share with us in the comments below.

Meet Taryn

Taryn is a Women’s Health and Fitness Physiotherapist in Townsville Australia, founder of Swim Ride Mum and mother to 2 girls.

Her passion is to help Women build strength from the inside out both physically and emotionally. Taryn helps women to exercise safely during pregnancy and to return to exercise and fitness after having children. Her aim is to offer Women an opportunity to enjoy fitness that is safe, enjoyable and challenging. On her website + social media platforms Taryn provides up to date, evidence based information and education for:

Female Athletes who want to improve their sports performance

Women who want to engage in fitness (at any level)

Women who want to learn how to enjoy a healthy lifestyle

Women wanting to know how to exercise safely during pregnancy and

Mums returning to exercise after having children.

In person Taryn provides goal oriented therapy and personalised training to Women, in particularly pregnant women, new mums, and women who have pelvic health concerns.

Connect with Taryn | Resources

More from Taryn

Tell us a little about you and your family

I always find the ‘about me’ a little bit tricky… In a nutshell I am a Mum of 2 beautiful girls – Sophie 3 years and Hannah 1 year. My husband, Jay and I are both Physiotherapists who live here in Sunny Townsville. We both love the beach and being outdoors in general.

My passion is to help mums enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle and feel comfortable in their body.

Our days usually consist of trying to keep kids settled whilst we dream what it would be like to have them sit and eat breakfast in their chair at a café, taking our girls to the beach or a park, and doing lots of ‘simple family life activities’

Share with us your first experience with yoga

I went with my sister in law Julia to a local studio. To be completely honest it wasn’t the ‘bliss’ experience that you would expect. The instructor seemed to want to ‘show off’ his extreme flexibility, point out who was doing ‘well’ in the class, and made a few harsh comments about others who were maybe finding things a little more challenging! Not really what Yoga is all about right! We still had a lot of fun. Yoga is something that we always try to do together we catch up on holidays, and we often reflect on this experience and laugh. I always cherish my Yoga with Jules…

I feel like my first ‘real’ experience with Yoga didn’t actually come until I was a Mum. This was when I began to realise that Yoga is so much more than a series of poses. It’s a mindset, and a lifestyle. It’s like I was ‘ready’ to start this journey of deep self discovery, and Yoga was just one thing that helped me do that.

How do you prioritize self care?

I find this question difficult to answer because It’s so multi-factorial! I guess I know to prioritise self care because I know what things start to look like if I don’t, and it’s not pretty!

So how do I make sure that I do it? To be completely honest it’s a juggling act. I always have to sacrifice something in order to fit in ‘self care’. What I ‘sacrifice’ and what I choose to ‘fit in’ is always changing. Sometimes I sacrifice sleep to fit in a run. Sometimes, it’s a sleep that I need, so I sacrifice a clean house. Other times, I feel like I will go crazy if I can’t just get the house cleaned, so I make sure I focus on cleaning a little rather than doing some work….

I guess it comes back to ‘flow’ or ‘alignment’ or ‘checking in with myself’ – however you may like to phrase it. I ask myself what it is that I really need right now, and do it.

How do you incorporate yoga into your #mumlife?

I guess I use the ‘philosophies’ of Yoga on a daily basis, so whilst it don’t necessarily take to a mat each day, I am constantly incorporating some aspect of Yoga into my day to day life. Simple things like trying not to pass judgement on myself or others, or not ‘sweating the small stuff’.

Fitting yoga into #mumlife consists of doing ‘parts of practice’. If I go for a run, I often like to ‘meditate’ and focus on my breath, and only my breath.

Sometimes I do a few poses in between feeding my 1 year old her breakfast. I also really enjoy practicing with my 3 year old at night just before she goes to bed. Followed by a ‘gratefulness’ practice and a bit of deep breathing.

Once a week I will get myself off to a class and make sure I have a ‘focused practice’. Like all things #mumlife I have learned that it wont be ‘perfect’, but as soon as you ‘let go’ of that expectation it can actually fit in quite beautifully if you just allow it to.